


Be My New Romance

by apatternedfever



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 11:21:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/710241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apatternedfever/pseuds/apatternedfever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And it should be awkward, four in a bed, particularly these four. None of this should work. But it does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be My New Romance

**Author's Note:**

> Written almost three years ago, for the kinkmeme at sizeofthathing, for the following prompt: 
> 
> AU Foursome inspired by this quote of Moffat's,  
> "He was keen, and in a wonderful moment of naivete he was going to invite her [Reinette] on board the TARDIS. Can you imagine how that would have worked? "Rose – good news! Been getting a bit blokey round here with me and Mickey, eh? Well, here she is – another girl!" And Mickey taking the Doctor aside and saying "Look, mate, this isn't how it works – you don't steal my girlfriend, then steal the King of France's girlfriend, and then put us all in the same box and think it's going to work!"."  
> Suprisingly, it does.
> 
> I'm not usually a smut writer, or, for that matter, much of a Whoverse writer, so let me state upfront that any and all crit is welcome. Also, as this was written in 2010 and is mostly unchanged, some details on how the TARDIS works may have been proved wrong by future seasons. Consider it a complete AU after Girl of the Fireplace.

It's after the waking-up-slowly portion is past that Mickey starts to worry things are going to fall apart. Rose looks at Reinette's hand on her hip with shock, and the Doctor stares at the ceiling like he's been wording his _this was great really but it was all a mistake_ speech as they sleep, and Mickey realizes he's pressed against the bare back of a woman who should be dead, and Reinette's the only one who looks at all comfortable, and maybe this was all a mistake and he should start wording a speech of his own. He meets Rose's eyes over the other two and for the first time since the Doctor came into their lives, he thinks they might be thinking the same thing.

Then Reinette curls her legs up until her feet are pressing against his thighs, and they're cold enough to shock him out of thought and into swearing. Reinette claims it's because of the Doctor, even though he's been sandwiched between Reinette, who Mickey knows is warm because she's curled into him, and Rose, who he knows is warm from experience, all night. Rose starts in with "if you didn't kick till the blanket came up", an old argument he never thought he'd hear again, at the same moment he reaches out to touch the Doctor's skin and finds out for himself that the cold is there, though not as much as last night. Rose is smiling. The Doctor is rambling about differences between him and humans, and how the similarities are really only superficial. Reinette is running her fingers along the arm that's over her waist, the hand that's still resting against the Doctor's ribs, and Rose reaches out and laces her fingers with his.

And it should be awkward, four in a bed; and one of them should be dead (is, according to the history books) and one of them isn't human (and male, Mickey's never slept with a bloke before but thinking about that next to every other difference makes it sound ridiculous, so he doesn't) and one of them's his ex (though they never said the words).

Should be, but it's not.

\---

He misses her reaction to the TARDIS. Later, he remembers her expression stepping into a spaceship for the first time, tries to imagine something like that, with less fear and more joy. He never quite gets it right.

She's very sick, when the Doctor goes back through the fireplace, four minutes for them and six years for her. She won't refuse the Doctor, but she refuses to see them. It's another couple of hours to get everything sorted out -- so far as history is concerned, Madame de Pompadour died right on schedule; only a nurse, a maid, and the king know any better, and none of them are telling anything -- but this time, Mickey checks in with the Doctor at the fireplace and they're ready for the wait. More importantly, they know he's coming back.

They explore the TARDIS while the Doctor takes care of the last bit of business they need to fix before they can go. When Mickey and Rose open a door and find themselves back at the control room, Reinette looks like she's never been sick a day in her life, beautiful and somehow a perfect fit in her dress, like she's always belonged on the TARDIS. The Doctor beams, and beyond the jealousy, Rose even looks a bit charmed when Reinette curtsies to her, smiling like she knows right away they're going to be friends.

Mickey's more than a bit charmed at the same treatment, but he manages a bow that he's sure he hears Rose snicker at. But then the Doctor bustles about, offers to take her anywhere she wants to go, any time and any place, and even Rose gets in on it, offering suggestions when Reinette looks uncertain. 

Mickey thinks about inviting himself on board, about _I could do with a laugh_ , Rose turned away from him and still obvious. He thinks about big ears, a leather jacket, and two invitations in the span of five minutes, and wonders if he could've had this himself.

Thinks, for a moment, he might be having some jealousy of his own, before dismissing the thought as nonsense. He's here. No need to be jealous.

Reinette asks to see the future of France, and they aim for Paris in about the present, or so the Doctor says. They end up in Paris, at least, but forty years too early. Of course there's aliens and danger because there's always aliens and danger; but first there's sights to be seen and after there's Reinette's hand, warm in his as they run under the sunshine, and Rose's hand just a moment later, and they're all laughing by the time they get into the TARDIS.

\---

The first moments after waking up, all he can think is that it's nice to have someone next to him again.

He barely even notices that there's more than one body under his arm.

He stirs and retracts his arm for a moment, pulling the blanket farther up his chest, before replacing it snugly around Reinette's waist.

He smiles when he doesn't think Rose, even half-asleep, even when all he can see of her is blond hair and pale skin from where his forehead rests against her shoulder. His feet stick off the end of the bed.

He scoots up the bed till he's back on the pillow, gives another sleepy smile when the Doctor's eyes flick towards him, closes his eyes, shifts more towards Reinette, and wonders if it's morning in space, or if there's a clearly defined enough morning in space to really care about, or if he should stop worrying about it and go back to sleep because it's not like either of the girls are awake yet, just the Doctor, who he's pretty sure never sleeps, so what's stopping him?

He's pretty sure he falls asleep and wakes up again after that, because Reinette is closer to him than she was a second ago, and Rose is making that quiet _mmmmph_ sound that means she's not entirely awake and stretching, and he thinks he might feel the Doctor's nails moving lightly against his back before he shifts.

It's not until after _that_ that he starts to realize where he is and what happened last night.

\---

There's a lot of things about time travel Reinette catches onto before Mickey did -- some of them before Mickey does, which would bother him more, maybe, if he'd been there much longer than her, or if she didn't ask him her questions about the early 21st century before she went to the Doctor or Rose. Or if she didn't smile at him when they were outside of the TARDIS, sometimes -- when they weren't in quite so imminent danger and the day was nice (or not-so-nice, sometimes), and the Doctor was going on about something or other (or sometimes just when they were all walking about) -- a smile that felt private, and said _aren't we lucky? isn't this amazing? isn't the world wonderful?_ , and he'd smile back; and somehow it still felt private when she'd turn to Rose, and then Rose would smile, and Rose would turn to him and share that smile with him, and the Doctor would look back and he'd grin at the three of them like maybe he was thinking the same thing and they'd all smile a little bit more and no, it didn't feel any less private sharing it between the four of them.

Reinette's clever -- way smarter than him, he admits freely, and smarter than Rose, though he'd never say that one -- and she's good with people in ways Mickey's never seen anybody relate to people before. It doesn't seem odd to him when she gets the hang of dressing for the place and time before he does, or when she learns her way around the TARDIS wardrobe well enough that he starts asking her to bring him clothes. For all that the Doctor and Rose share a look and start talking about attitude and seeming like you belong, Mickey likes dressing up, it makes him feel more like a traveler, and Reinette makes it clear she feels the same. It also means slowing down to double-check where they are before they start out, and lucky for Mickey, there's another area he and Reinette agree on, and between the two of them insisting, they can get the Doctor to do it most of the time.

It doesn't seem odd that she gets the Doctor better than he does and, although it's something else he'd never say, better than Rose does. He starts looking to Reinette for cues in social situations almost immediately, because even if she's from a much earlier time she's much better at picking up on behavior than he is, but it's not long before he starts looking to her to figure out when don't wander off is a suggestion the Doctor will actually be a bit disappointed to see them follow, and when they really should stay put. He likes to think he understands her too, though sometimes he thinks that might be fooling himself; except when she gets lost just a second too long in her thoughts and he can see her smile becoming fake, so he touches her shoulder, makes a joke or points out something interesting nearby, or starts telling her about something completely ordinary from home, and he watches her smile change, he's pretty sure it's not an act.

The only thing that does surprise him is how little things surprise him. An eighteenth-century French girl, no, woman, in her forties though she hardly looks her age, now just an anonymous woman except for the beauty, the intelligence, and the charm; she shouldn't fit here so well with them. A twenty-first century girl, because yes, she's still a girl most of the time, nineteen years old but a seasoned time traveler who can rattle off important-sounding facts about temporal paradoxes and never took her A-levels and he still remembers when she was just a kid. An alien, who knows how old that one is, who gets some sort of kick by showing humans places they shouldn't be able to get to, lets them all stick around his flying blue box, snaps at them one minute for wandering off and calls them brilliant the next. And then there's him, the tech support, the tin dog, still just a boy, half past twenty and okay, maybe he could see the other three working, in that strange way they had, but he shouldn't be here, shouldn't feel at home here, but he is, and he does. Here, in the flying blue box, with the King's mistress, and the Time Lord, and his ex-girlfriend.

\---

He's waiting for somebody to get up and walk out, because he's never done this but he's pretty sure that's how these things ought to work. Four people have hours of very intense sex, in several combinations, they shouldn't be able to all lie in the same bed for more than half-an-hour, till the bed is warm and the positions are comfortable and sleep is starting to set in. They probably shouldn't all be able to fit in the same bed, but this is the TARDIS and things like that no longer surprise him.

He's not sure whose room they ended up in -- it's not his, and it's not Rose's. It could be Reinette's, but it's hard for him to imagine her living in such a plain space, although the bed is apparently to her tastes. It could be the Doctor's, nothing to suggest it's not, but he has a hard time imagining the Doctor sleeping often enough to need a room, and if he does, Mickey doubts they'd've been invited into the space for this.

The lights dim, slowly -- the first time that happened, Mickey had been half-asleep, considering getting up and turning out the light, and he'd nearly fallen out of bed, but now he's used to it. They don't go all the way black; there's just enough light left to move around by, to see the other three, and if he really wanted to get up, now's probably the best time for it.

Rose turns onto her left, her back pressing into the Doctor's side, her arm under her head. His arm is under her, fingers laced with hers. Mickey can feel the fingers of the Doctor's other hand slide down against his back as the Doctor relaxes. Reinette shifts back towards him, finding the bend of the Doctor's elbow as a more comfortable pillow, her hand settled into the curve of Rose's side. It all happens in the span of a couple of moments, the three of them relaxing, and Mickey watches, uncertain, before sitting up.

He feels eyes on him as he gets out of the bed, and he chances a glance back at the foot of the bed. The Doctor hasn't moved, but his eyes are on Mickey, his expression unreadable. Rose's face is clouded with sleep, but she's propped herself up enough to look over her shoulder at him, unsurprised and understanding. Reinette has nearly sat up herself, watching him, and he can't tell in this light if she's disappointed, confused, or both.

He picks the blanket up off the floor, spreads it out with a quick snap of the wrists over the bed and lets it fall where it may, and climbs back into his spot, his hand on Reinette's hip, head on the pillow with the Doctor's arm under his neck, hand on his back. Reinette lets out a soft, contented sigh as he pulls the blanket up over them, presses back just a bit, until he can feel the heat of her skin. He moves forward in turn, until their skin is brushing in places. His hand slides off of her hip, and he hesitates before reaching forward, resting it just above Reinette's on the Doctor's already much cooler skin. He feels the brush of the Doctor's thumb against his neck, one slow, light stroke against his skin.

The lights go out, and Mickey smiles, and is asleep before he thinks to close his eyes.

\---

Mickey knows he's a bit thick sometimes. Rose told him so, the first time she kissed him, smiling at him like it was a good thing to be oblivious that the girl you've known all your life and maybe had a bit of a crush on since you realized she's grown up and filled out real nice wanted you to kiss her; she said it again the night she came to him on the TARDIS, locked the door, and pushed him onto his bed.

He's come to accept it; he's not good at flirting, and romance, and lucky for him, the first girl he really wanted to date didn't mind him being a bit rubbish at it. Not until an alien with a time machine showed up and honestly, no matter how good a flirt you are, you're gonna lose to the man with the time machine. Even Casanova wouldn't stand a chance against that.

So he may be a bit thick when it comes to, as his gran used to say, matters of the heart. Rose problem aside -- and of course he didn't pick up on it with her, he'd known her, and her mum, since she was born -- he did like to think he could at least tell when someone was flirting with him. Maybe he couldn't flirt back, and got flustered asking them out, but he could at least tell, unless they were being unreasonably subtle, and he still thinks Rose was being too subtle to expect anyone to get it.

He's pretty sure Reinette's been flirting with him since she got settled on the ship.

He wouldn't be too surprised by the flirting. He's not the universe's greatest-looking guy, but he's pretty decent, he thinks; had enough girls show interest that he's secure in that. And some girls like to flirt. He's never known them too well, but he's seen them, and he wouldn't be surprised if Reinette liked to flirt.

It's the way she does it; the touching too much for too long, the sitting too close, the looks she gives him, the way she stops for a second sometimes and looks at him like she's waiting for him to move forward and just kiss her already and doesn't know what he's waiting for. It's not the subtle looks and comments he's used to, or even the bold comments and innuendo he sorta knows what to do with. That he could handle. This isn't just flirting, this is like flirting with a purpose, except he's not sure if it's actually with a purpose or just done differently in eighteenth-century France, or maybe done differently by her.

Besides, if he's got things right -- and the same way he likes to think he know flirting when someone's flirting with him, he thinks he knows flirting when he sees it happen to someone else -- it's probably not a purpose at all.

Because he's pretty sure he sees her do the same with the Doctor, which isn't surprising, because if the alien with the spaceship's going to go off with you, why would you settle for Mickey Smith? But he's sure he sees the Doctor flirting back -- subtly, almost carefully, but Mickey sees it sometimes, when the Doctor thinks they're not being watched. And if the Doctor's interested, no way she's going to go for him.

More than that, he's pretty sure he sees her doing the same thing with Rose, from time to time. Thinks he might even see Rose, looking completely out of her depth and like she's not sure what she's doing, flirting back, just a bit. So either Reinette just really likes to flirt, or Mickey's seeing things.

Either way, seems like it's something best ignored.

\---

In that first time, most of it gets lost in the heat of the moment, too wrapped up to notice the details every second. Mickey would think it's a shame, afterward, except he manages to build up more than enough memories to make up for it. The flashes he remembers from that first time, though, never fade away.

Stumbling down a hallway -- no kissing, no groping, but Reinette's hand is on his wrist, his fingers are grazing exposed skin on Rose's hip, the Doctor stumbles into him and for a second is closer than he's ever been even though Mickey's pretty sure that's not true. The Doctor tells them "this way" at just the last second and Mickey hits the doorway on the way in. Rose chuckles and looks apologetic at the same time, Mickey knows he probably looks annoyed, but then Reinette kisses him, soft and sweet, and his annoyance melts away. She presses him to the doorway, presses her body into his and kisses him again, hard and hungry. When she pulls away, Rose and the Doctor are both watching. Mickey thinks he should feel something, something negative, but instead he smile.

Finding his way to Rose, because she's familiar and he knows what she wants and he's just starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. Her trousers came off at some point, like his shirt, but other than that they're both dressed. Reinette is nearly bare, sitting on the bed next to Rose in only her knickers, but looks more comfortable than either of them. The Doctor's still wearing his shirt, trousers and socks, standing on the other side of the giant bed and just looking at them; he's lost the tops layers and it's still more naked than Mickey ever expected to see him. It's not bad, it's just weird, and he stops before he gets on the bed, crouching down instead and pressing a line of kisses against Rose's thigh. He can hear her breathing change, and he keeps going, up her thigh, hesitating at the top of her knickers, glancing up at her. Reinette's hands reach out, pull Rose's shirt off, her hands trailing over Rose's breasts and Mickey's breath catches as he watches. He doesn't continue moving until Reinette moves her hands away, making his way up Rose's stomach, her chest, her neck, until he kisses her properly. The bed shifts and both of them feel the loss of Reinette next to them, but neither of them pull away yet. When he does, he straightens up, looking over to see Reinette kissing the Doctor. They're both kneeling on the bed, the Doctor awkwardly, and Mickey thinks Reinette probably pulled him forward. They're only kissing, but it's beautiful and intimate and Mickey doesn't look away, even as he sits on the bed and helps Rose take off her bra.

Reinette lying on the bed in front of them, unashamedly bare, her own hands on her breasts. She said she thought it would make it easier for the rest of them, and she's right, if only because watching her is making him too hard to care about anything but touching and tasting and wanting anymore. Rose is sitting next to her, looking like she wants just as much as Mickey does, and when Reinette's hand dips between her legs, Reinette gasps and Rose moans and then they're kissing like they don't need to breathe. Mickey has to look away, because he can't believe it's still going to be there when he looks back and he needs to prove it to himself, and when he does he catches the Doctor's eyes and the Doctor grins at him, that grin that he's only gotten when they're out exploring before that says _aren't we lucky? isn't this brilliant?_ and Mickey gives him the same smile before he turns back to watch.

The first time he kisses the Doctor -- Reinette pulling away from him, gently, and he can barely register the loss of her lips before she turns him towards the Doctor. One hand touches Mickey's side, slides around to his back, and he's about to make a comment on how cold the Doctor, have a laugh to make things less awkward when the Doctor's kissing him and he doesn't feel like laughing anymore. He can still feel the Doctor's hand on his back, Reinette's on his shoulder, and the Doctor is careful, which should be ridiculous considering Mickey's down to his boxers and the Doctor's down to his trousers and what they've just watched and the fact that there's things they're gonna need to be much more careful about coming up, but instead it's kind of sweet, because it's a weird sort of nice to know the Doctor cares enough to be careful.

Reinette is on top of him, her eyes closed, her mouth open, completely lost to sensation, and he watches her until Rose blocks his vision, kissing him hard, biting down on his lip as the Doctor's fingers slide into her. He meets the Doctor's eyes over her shoulder when she pulls back for a moment, gives him a smirk and a tilt of the head, and the Doctor replies with a grin and a small nod, and they shouldn't be able to work this well together this soon, but they do, and the girls come at almost the same moment, Reinette with only a gasp, Rose with nonsense words against his lips. Mickey doesn't get much of a chance to enjoy it before Reinette moves again and he can't think anymore, but that's okay.

Reinette kisses him, and he keeps his eyes open. Rose is on the floor, between Reinette's legs; the touch of her fingers to Reinette's clit have slowly become less uncertain, and Reinette's oh oh oh please is lost into his mouth, something he's certain the others don't hear, something that will be his alone. He slides his thumb across her nipple and Rose is looking him in the eye as Reinette shudders between them.

Rose's taste is familiar on his tongue, and it's both deliciously familiar and completely new, because he's done this before so many times but never like this, her spread on a bed this large, large enough that he can comfortably lie between her legs, and definitely never with a hand that wasn't his own on his cock, and suddenly any worried he had about it feeling weird to get a handjob from a guy is gone because whatever the Doctor's gotten up to in his god-knows-how-many years, he's gotten good at this.

He's not used to the body pressed against him being so much like his, even if they're so different on the inside, but he picks it up pretty easily, gripping the Doctor's hip with one hand and moving one hand between their bodies. He can feel Reinette's legs brush his, as she leaves kisses down the Doctor's back, and Rose's lips are a familiar delight against his neck, and the Doctor kisses are talented and gentle, except for one harsh one as he comes.

Reinette's hands on his hips is familiar, in a strange way more intimate than her mouth on his cock, though he probably wouldn't give up the second for the first. He's leaning against the wall, eyes open as she gives him a long and almost tortuously good blowjob, watching the Doctor and Rose fucking on the floor. They're going at it like they want to meld into each other, and he wonders if he should be jealous, and then he almost laughs, and Reinette licks, and he's not laughing and he is _definitely_ not jealous.

He doesn't think he could have another go, which makes want kind of irrelevant, so he lies on his side and watches, occasionally reaching out a hand for a touch here or a stroke there, occasionally getting drawn closer for a kiss. Rose falls first, to Reinette's fingers working inside her and the Doctor's hands on her breasts, and collapses on the other end of the bed, on her stomach, her face turned towards the two still moving in the center of the bed. For a long time they simply kiss, not that there's anything simply about it, and then in a move Mickey doesn't entirely catch the Doctor is inside Reinette, and they're moving together like they've been lovers for years. It's only a couple of minutes work until the Doctor goes still, and he slides out and down Reinette's body in one fluid motion, his fingers and his tongue working simultaneously. Reinette reaches out, takes hold of Mickey's hand and Rose's hand and squeezes them both tightly as she comes.

For a moment, when Reinette rolls into him to make room for the Doctor, and all four of them are lying there in positions that aren't perfect but are preferable to moving, Mickey expects with every fiber of his being to wake up.

\---

Reinette asks him to take her shopping when they stop to visit Jackie, and Mickey can't figure out why him.

"Rose will want to spend the time with her mother," Reinette points out, in a tone of voice that would sound reasonable even if she was saying -- actually, Mickey can't think of things that aren't reasonable anymore, they all end up happening eventually. "You know more about the city and this time's fashions than the Doctor would."

"We won't be here that long," he points out, because he already knows he's not going to refuse. "You don't really need clothes for this decade. You can get what you need from the TARDIS, if you do."

"I enjoy dressing like your 'modern women', Mickey," Reinette tells him with a secretive smile. "I would like to have my own clothing to wear. It would be much more practical than the dresses I brought from home."

So he takes her shopping, and she insists on showing him outfits as she tries them on and asking for his opinion. He tries not to stare too obviously, and tells her she looks amazing, and it's always sincere.

"Funny," she comments, as they're walking out of the shop.

"What?"

"You compliment me, and you enjoy my attentions, yet you never do anything more than enjoy. If not for my permission today, I wonder, would you even have looked?"

It stuns him speechless, not that that's hard to do, and for just a split second it's three years ago, because her smile that he's a bit thick and it's a good thing, and he starts to move towards her -- maybe he'll kiss her, he's not sure but she doesn't seem like she's going to stop him -- when the Doctor comes running up, babbling a mile a minute.

\---

"I believe we have unfinished business, Mickey," Reinette says when they're back on the TARDIS, catching his arm before he can step into the hallway. The Doctor and Rose both look up from the TARDIS console and then look back down, pretending they're not listening, and Mickey tries to figure out if she's going to do this here or wants to go somewhere private when she steps forward and kisses him.

It doesn't last more than a few moments, but it's a good kiss. A very good kiss.

Mickey looks up when Reinette moves away. Rose is staring, mouth open and maybe a hint of jealously in the way she's looking at them. The Doctor isn't looking at them, and Mickey thinks that might be the Doctor's version of Rose's expression.

Reinette turns back towards the control room and takes in their expressions herself. She gives him a look over her shoulder with a smile like the one she wore before, and then announces in a voice deliberately pitched to carry, "If you will be the only one to understand my attentions, Mickey, then we alone will act upon them."

Mickey feels like _his_ jaw might drop this time, like he might laugh at the way both Rose and the Doctor are looking at them, like he might dance around grinning like an idiot. The King's mistress just snogged him and is maybe -- no, definitely, with the way she's looking at him and her hand on his arm like that -- suggesting something more than just a snog. Actually, he thinks she's suggesting a foursome, and that the other two are too thick to pick up on it, which would have seemed like a really bad idea until today but all of a sudden sounds like a really good one.

"I'm sorry, are you -- no, no, you must be joking." Rose smiles, tries to play it as a joke, and Mickey nearly does laugh at that, until Reinette moves away from him. She crosses the control room in quick, sure steps -- he knows what she's going to do halfway through the room, but knowing it's going to happen and seeing it are nothing like the same thing -- takes Rose's face in her hands, and kisses her. It's a longer kiss than the one she shared with Mickey, and at first more gentle, though that might be because Rose is stunned and not moving for the first few seconds. Then -- cautiously, uncertainly -- she starts kissing back, and Reinette isn't quite so gentle anymore.

When she breaks away from Rose, who stumbles a step back looking completely stunned, Reinette turns to the Doctor with a smile that Mickey thinks could easily be taken as a challenge. "And you, Doctor? Do you think that this is a joke?"

For a moment, none of them say anything, and then the Doctor grins, and steps forward, and holds out his hand.

"No."

Mickey expects him to go on, but Reinette only nods, a satisfied gesture, and takes his hand. She reaches out to Rose with her other hand, and the next moment seems even longer, and Mickey tries to will it to go well, and lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when Rose takes Reinette's hand, relaxing his grip on the doorknob.

Then they're walking towards him, and what's happening sinks in, and he wonders for a second if he's going to be the one to chicken out.

Instead, he opens the door.


End file.
